


Person of Interest

by sonnycarisi



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Undercover, Undercover as a Couple, mentions of rape and violence be aware of that
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-22
Updated: 2014-09-09
Packaged: 2018-02-14 05:10:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2179161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonnycarisi/pseuds/sonnycarisi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Amaro and Barba go undercover at a couples counseling center</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Official Story

**Author's Note:**

> ok like i said in the tags it isn't actually explicit yet but it will be later on. i'm not sure how long this is going to be altogether but i have most of the story worked out. i wrote this for my friend dennis!! as well as for me because this ship is wonderful and there are very few fics of them.

Nick Amaro was heading into work after missing a day due to several appointments. He had gotten a call from Olivia saying they had started a new case and she gave him a few of the details in her message. Two rape victims had been found with very little in common but the same injuries and description of their attack. One of the cases where having another victim would help them find the guy faster, but you’d never wish that another person had gotten attacked. Amaro never liked those cases, his frustration could get out of hand at the lack of evidence.  
After everything he had to finish up the previous night he fell asleep and woke up later than usual. He showered and got dressed in a hurry, he just wore a white button down shirt with a black tie and pants. When he walked into work a few minutes late he saw a board set up with information from the new case.  
“I think going undercover would be the best bet with these guys, they aren’t going to give us any more information.” Rollins suggested watching Nick walk in. “We should send Amaro with someone.”  
“What am I being sent to do?” Amaro asked having just sat down.  
“We need two people to go undercover at a couples counseling center for the case I called you about. Amanda and I were already there and the owners know us so you’ll have to go since Fin is out today.” Benson answered.  
“Alright.” he sighed. “I’ll need the rest of the details, who am I going with?” Looking around, Olivia spotted Rafael Barba walking down the hall. He was wearing a blue flower patterned tie with matching blue suspenders and a grey suit. One of his trademark bright and colour coordinated outfits.  
“Hey Barba, what are you doing here?” she called out to him.  
“Oh, hi Olivia.” Barba said, walking over. “Just wrapping up a case down the hall. Got anything new here?” he asked. Rollins smirked then.  
“Hey, now I’ve got an idea.” Nick looked up at Amanda realizing what she was thinking.  
“No, come on Rollins.” he said. Barba looked at them questioningly.  
“What’s going on?”  
“We’ve got two rape victims who go to the same couples counseling center. Shayna Weston and Franklin Heft.” she answered, pointing at their pictures on the board. “Olivia and I went to the center to ask a few questions and the owners tried to get rid of us as fast as possible. Since they already met us we were going to send Nick undercover there with someone, and I’m thinking you.” Barba frowned. Undercover to help catch a rapist? Sure. Undercover pretending to be Amaro’s boyfriend?  
“What do you think counselor?” Olivia asked. Barba thought about it for a moment. He and Amaro weren’t the best of friends so it wouldn’t be a great time, but if they manage to catch the guy it’ll be worth it.  
“I guess I could do that, I don’t have anything planned for a few days. Just fill me in on what I need to know.”  
“Oh come on, you’re agreeing to this?” Amaro interjected.  
“Well I must say, I’m not thrilled with the idea of being around you for a few days, but I’d like to catch this rapist, so yes I am.” Rafael retorted. Amaro scowled at him.  
“Don’t doubt my dedication to my job just because I didn’t want to hang out with you.” he said and Barba smirked. Amaro didn’t hate Barba or anything but they had never gotten along very well. They had conflicting personalities and tended to just annoy each other.  
“Okay, fill me in on the details.”  
“We can’t figure out this rapist’s M.O. Normally they go for people who are the same gender and race. Or at least ones that have something personally in common, the only common factor we’ve found between these two is that they both went to the same couples counselling center. Shayna Weston, 36, black. She’s married to Alan Weston, they were both attending the Sheffield’s Couples Counseling Center. She was raped four nights ago. Her and Alan were on one of their assigned dates from the center. She excused herself to the bathroom when she was attacked. She said he grabbed her from behind when she walked in and she never saw his face. He was taller than her, she said probably around 5’11. He slammed her head against the bathroom wall trying to knock her out, but it didn’t work. Her husband found her crying in the bathroom and called an ambulance. Other than her head injury she has some bruises on her arms and hips. There’s no DNA evidence found.” Benson told him.  
“Okay, and the second victim?”  
“Franklin Heft, 41, Korean. Attacked two nights ago. He is dating Brianna DeWald and they also attend the Sheffield’s center and were on an assigned date. He also had his head slammed against a wall, but was actually knocked out. Brianna took him to the hospital after waking him up and he told her he was mugged. He wasn’t very forthcoming about any details and has been very freaked out about us talking to him. He did tell us a bit when Brianna left the room though. He said he was also grabbed from behind and didn’t see his attacker’s face. Still no DNA. We’re thinking it’s someone who works at the counselling center, he would have known when Shayna and Franklin would have been out. When Amanda and I went to talk to the owners, the Sheffields, they assured us that it must have been a coincidence, and refused any actual questioning.”  
“Gotta love business owners, concerned about saving their reputation and profits before the people they’re supposedly trying to help.” Barba quipped. “I’ll try this and go over there with Amaro, we’ll need a cover story first.”  
“Let’s just say we’re having ‘communication issues’, they’ll probably just take that if they’re so hungry for money.” Amaro said.  
“I assume they’re going to ask for more details.” Barba replied. Amaro sighed.  
“Then you come up with something! I want to catch this guy and as soon as possible. The less time I have to spend with you the better.” Amaro said, putting his jacket back on while Barba glared at him.  
“Then you are just going to love the next part Nick.” Olivia said. “At this place when you are signed up, you stay there. They have rooms that you are going to share, and they have lots of trust building and bonding activities that are required, and like I said, assigned dates where you leave and go out somewhere together.” Amaro groaned and Barba wrinkled his nose.  
“Great. I can’t believe people in shitty relationships put themselves through that. You’d think they’d want to spend less time together.” Amaro said, annoyed.  
“And remember how you’re going to have to act. I know you don’t love each other and being irritated with each other is fine, but you need to fake some kind of affection. You need to be in love but with problems you can’t solve by yourselves. All of their general information is online, so I suggest you two find their sign up hours and practice your story.” she finished. Barba exhaled loudly and picked up his briefcase.  
“Alright, I’ll get ahold of you after we talk to the owners.” He said walking out of the room. Amaro followed him, still looking annoyed. He would have easily accepted going undercover for this case with just about anyone else.  
“Have fun you two!” Amanda called after them.


	2. Pretend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Amaro and Barba go to the counseling center to sign up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ok i'm sorry if there are any spelling or grammar issues in any chapters, i'm pretty new to writing anything but essays, if you see something you can let me know and i'll edit it!

Amaro had gone home and packed his things before driving to Barba’s house. However, when he got there he thought that ‘house’ was an understatement; it was huge. Pretentious and expensive looking, not unlike Barba himself, Amaro thought and smirked. He parked in front of the house, grabbed his stuff, and walked over to ring the doorbell. Barba answered the door and Nick saw that he had changed into a white button down shirt with dark jeans and a black blazer.  
“Wow, who knew you owned something so casual.” Nick remarked as he was led inside.  
“If I have enough clothes to fit into my three closets then I would definitely own at least one casual outfit.” Amaro frowns, unable to tell if Barba was being serious or not.  
“I found their website and while I was waiting for you to get here. They’re open for signups from 10am to 6pm today. It’s owned by Garret and Jennifer Sheffield, they don’t really run anything there, they just do some of the signups, so there are a lot of employees. We should meet most of them while we’re there. Do you still want to use your ‘communication issues’ story?”  
“Yeah, it’ll be fine. If you’re so concerned come up with something of your own.” Amaro answered.  
“Will do.” Barba said with a smirk. “We need to make up the jobs we have, or at least you do. Something with weird hours so it clashes with the hours from my job.”  
“An EMT maybe? Firefighter or a nurse, people on call would have to go in whenever they’re needed, that could fuck up our alone time.” Amaro replied with a smile.  
“Yes, those are good ideas. I need to get my suitcase and we should be good to leave.”  
He walked upstairs and Amaro followed him into his bedroom. He stepped inside and looked around. Most of the walls in Barba’s house were light coloured and his furniture was dark but he had a lot of colourful accents around. A few vases of bright flowers and vibrantly coloured paintings. His bedspread and pillow cases were an aubergine colour with a paisley print on his blanket. He had a matching vase of flowers on his dresser, next to one of his closets.  
“So you weren’t joking about that three closets thing then.” Amaro said with a laugh. He looked into the open one. “Do you seriously need one closet just for your ties, suspenders, and other accessories?”  
“Where else do you want me to put them?” Amaro raised his eyebrows then shook his head with a smile.  
They went back downstairs and outside to put their things in Amaro’s car and drove off to the center.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
After about an hour they arrived at the Sheffield’s center. They pulled into the parking lot and began to walk towards the building. The car ride was quiet with mostly the music and chatter on the radio as background noise. The silence between them was surprisingly comfortable. The few bits of conversation were just preparations for their undercover work.  
“Okay, hold on for a second.” Barba said, grabbing Amaro’s arm. “At least tell me your favourite colour or your birthday or something before we go in there. If they have us doing any kind of therapy sessions I’ll need to at least know a couple basic things.” Amaro paused for a moment.  
“Uh, I like light blue and my birthday is April 15. What about you?”  
“Pink and purple are my favourites and October 24.” Barba answered. They smiled at each other.  
“Well pink definitely suits you.” Amaro said and Barba laughed.  
“Not even inside yet and you’re already acting like my boyfriend.”  
“The lady at the front desk and some guy are staring at us.” Amaro said quietly. Pretending to look at the sign, Barba glanced at them.  
“They’re the owners, I saw their picture on the website.” He said, then turned to Amaro and took his hand. “Right now I am telling you that going to this center will be good for us and will improve our relationship. I’m telling you not to be nervous or angry about it.” Amaro smirked at him.  
“And I will agree with you but still be skeptical.” Barba smiled then stood on his toes to kiss Amaro on the cheek. Amaro blushed slightly as Barba pulled away and walked with him into the center.  
“Hello, how can we help you today?” the lady at the desk asked. She looked around 50 and had long blonde hair.  
“We’re um, we’re here to sign up for the couples counselling program.” Amaro answered awkwardly.  
“Lovely, we are glad to see you care about your relationship enough through the tough times to seek our help, and we do accept all kinds of relationships here.” she said with a wide unconvincing smile. Amaro and Barba exchanged a look. “I’ll need your names and my husband Garret will give you a short interview to decide if this is the best choice for your situation.” They gave their names to Jennifer, and waited for Garret Sheffield to see them.  
After waiting for 13 minutes, Mr. Sheffield called them into his office.  
“So Mr. Amaro, Mr. Barba, what brings you here today?” Sheffield asked. He was in his late fifties and had short grey hair. He and his wife were exactly what they had both been expecting. The ‘typical’ straight, white, upper middle class people. The kind who liked to hear about other people’s problems to assure themselves that they are indeed better than everyone else.  
“A friend recommended it to us, they uh, said we had communication issues.” Amaro replied.  
“Well if you want us to help you need to be more specific.” Amaro blanked on a response and was pissed off that Barba was right about needing more detail.  
“For starters he can’t get hard for me anymore.” Barba said with an irritated sigh.  
“I-“ Amaro began to say.  
“Don’t be embarrassed, cariñito, if we want help we need to tell him.” Barba interrupted, taking Amaro’s hand. “Along with that, our date nights haven’t been working out because of our work schedules, we’ve been fighting over that and just every little thing. It’s getting frustrating and I think we could really use your help, we hear you’re the best.” he finished. Amaro had turned red and looked extremely irritated. This would explain why Barba was smiling about coming up with his own story. Sheffield chucked.  
“Well I can see which one of you was the first to agree to come here.” Rafael rolled his eyes dramatically.  
“Yes,” he began. “I often have a hard time convincing Nick to do things I want. This still hasn’t become a very giving relationship on his end, only taking.” Amaro pulled his hand away from Barba’s and rubbed his eyes. He might as well follow Barba’s lead in this.  
“Neither of us has been really helping this relationship along, but I do love you Rafael, and I want this to work out.” He gave Barba a sweet half smile and he smiled back.  
“I love you too.” he replied, squeezing Amaro’s hand. “And I’m glad you agreed to come with me here.”  
“It barely seems like you need our help at all.” Sheffield said jokingly.  
“Oh, trust me, when we’re angry it gets ridiculously bad. We have plenty of witnesses to it.” Barba answered. This wasn’t a lie, they had gotten into a couple of shouting matches and uncomfortable arguments while working together.  
“In that case, we would be happy to help you.” Garret replied with an air of superiority. “We assign you to go on dates at certain times, so that should help you reconnect a bit. We also have group therapy sessions and plenty of team building exercises. The whole program is two weeks long and costs $97 per day. Any questions?”  
“No, we did our research before choosing your center, it seemed like the best around.” Amaro said with a smile.  
“Excellent, we’ll need you to fill out these sheets and sign them, then we can get you a room. Do you need to go get anything from home?”  
“We have all our stuff packed in our car.” Barba said.  
“Okay, then once these are taken care of you can get your things and I’ll have Jennifer show you to your room.”  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
After 15 minutes they had all their things settled in their room and that was the easy part. At 4pm they were sent out to meet some of the other couples at the center. Another new couple had arrived and everyone needed to be introduced before the group therapy session.  
Riley and Aya McKinnon, a young lesbian married couple in their twenties, were in the room next door, and easily Amaro and Barba’s favourite people there. Riley had short blonde and neon orange hair which Barba was slightly fascinated with. She had a very colourful wardrobe and she complimented the pink tie she saw on top of his suitcase when she stepped in to say hello. Aya was very shy and had a lot of trouble talking to anyone, even Riley, about her problems. Aya had brilliant green eyes that looked lovely against her light brown skin and dark brown hair.  
Another couple there was Eli and Kimberly Fuentes. Probably everyone’s least favourite couple. Constantly screaming at each other and can’t stay in the same room. Eli was very tall and muscular and very bigoted. He sneered everyone and was a very bitter person to be around. Kimberly wasn’t as rude as Eli, but she wasn’t a treat to be around either. She liked to start arguments with everyone over anything she could.  
Jeremy Steller and Michelle Dunn were the most frustrating for Amaro to be around. Jeremy was very clearly abusive and Michelle was miserable and scared. Jeremy got along with everyone else, he was very charming when he wanted to be. Amaro wanted to arrest Jeremy or possibly just beat the shit out of him and Barba had to pull him away.  
“There’s nothing we can do right now, we can go after him once we’re done here.” Barba assured him.  
Amaro ended up talking to Alex Pheles at dinner. She was a 30 year old Chinese transgender woman there with her girlfriend Dana. Alex understood what Michelle was going through and saw how angry about it that Nick was. They sat together for a bit while Barba was talking to Riley and Dana.  
At around 9pm Nick and Rafael went back to their room. “Are you considering anyone from the couples here as a suspect?” Barba asked.  
“If it’s any of them I would guess Jeremy, but we should wait until we meet some of the staff before going after him. He seems more concerned with only making his girlfriend miserable.” Amaro answered, sitting next to Barba on their bed.  
“Riley and Dana don’t trust Eli at all, but I think that’s more because he’s an ignorant asshole.”  
“True.” Amaro replied with a grin. “I feel like this will end up being the strangest undercover case I’ll ever do.”  
“You mean with the lack of a pattern with the victims?”  
“Well, yes that. But all of this is kind of weird you know.” Amaro said. Barba gave him a scrutinizing look. “I mean because we’re both straight, yeah? It’s just kind of awkward to pretend to be in love.” he raised an eyebrow.  
“Well, I’m bisexual so I think the difficulty with us pretending to be in love is more coming from the fact we’re barely even friends.” Barba replied matter-of-factly.  
“We really don’t know each other well, do we?”  
“Who knows, maybe this will be the case that finally brings an incredible friendship to life.” Barba said and Amaro chuckled quietly. “And I am going to bed, on the bed, if you’re going to be weird about sharing it then go right ahead and sleep on the floor.”  
“I’ll be fine sharing with you.” Barba turned the lamp next to him off and closed his eyes. Amaro sat awake for a while longer, concerned about getting a primary suspect, and getting one soon.


	3. Undercover Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Barba and Amaro continue to be undercover at the counseling center and look for a suspect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took me so long so get this chapter up! i've been doing school stuff and was sick for a few days. i'll try to get the next one up sooner

Amaro had been in and out of sleep all night. When he actually woke up at 8, he found Barba clinging to him. Amaro had been facing the opposite direction so Barba’s head was resting against his back and his right arm was draped over him. Amaro was grateful that he had decided to actually keep his t-shirt on before falling asleep. He rested there for a little while, not wanting to wake Barba. After a few minutes he felt Barba stretch and heard him yawn. Upon noticing he was holding onto Amaro, Barba stiffened then slid over to the other side of the bed. Nick laughed at him.  
“Shit, sorry, was I stuck to you all night?”  
“No, it was probably within the last hour.” Amaro answered as he sat up. “I need to shower, I’ll be out in like 10 minutes if you want to.” He took off his t-shirt as he walked into the bathroom and Rafael caught himself watching. He looked away quickly towards the other side of their room.  
Nick was entirely Barba’s type. He had noticed before, but had seen him as the typical ignorant straight guy, so he never thought much of it. They were on friendlier terms now but the thought of them actually together was still not something Barba enjoyed. He was extremely attractive but was not worth the hassle. Barba had gotten into a habit of checking him out at work however. His hair looked soft and he had very intimidating dark brown eyes. Amaro had a fantastic body as well. Barba had never seen him in less than his work clothes until a moment ago. He was muscular with a small amount of dark hair on his chest and down his stomach. His arms looked strong and he seemed so warm.  
Barba blushed as he noticed his cock getting hard under his pants. There was no way he got that turned on by thinking about Amaro, it was just because he hadn’t had sex with anyone in ages. Yes, that was definitely the reason. He grabbed a t-shirt and jeans from his suitcase and held them over his lap as Amaro emerged from the bathroom in a towel.  
“Bathroom’s all yours.”  
“Okay, thanks.” Rafael rushed past Amaro, shut the door, and turned the shower on. He rubbed his cock through his pants and moaned softly. A thought of Nick shirtless and wet from his shower flickered through his mind, and he shook his head and tried to suppress it. He quickly took off his clothes and stepped into the shower. It felt amazing and he sighed as the hot water poured over him. He grasped his cock and stroked it firmly. He slid his thumb over the head then began to pump it faster and let out a whine. He put his left hand over his mouth to stifle some of the moans.  
He started thinking about the last time he fucked anyone. He met this gorgeous guy at a bar he went to fairly often. After a while of flirting they took a cab back to Barba’s place. He of course wanted to show off his expensive tastes. He remembered being pushed up against his bedroom wall and kissed roughly. He loved getting his hair pulled and he got it pulled hard several times that night. He shuddered at the thought and took the hand that was over his mouth and tugged on his own hair. Rafael let out a breathy moan. He thought about getting his neck bitten while being fucked into the mattress. He became weak in the knees and groaned. Through his pleasure his thoughts had gotten mixed up and suddenly it was Amaro who he was thinking about fucking him. He moaned louder at the idea. After couple of seconds Barba realized what he was thinking about and his eyes shot open wide. “Oh, fuck.” He whimpered as he came hard.  
It took him a minute to start thinking clearly again. Had he really just gotten off on the idea of Nick screwing him? Barba shook his head quickly and tried not to think about it. He grabbed the shampoo and began to wash his hair.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
When he came out of the bathroom he saw that Amaro was just walking back into their room with coffee. Barba blushed when he looked at him. He tried to ignore the way his arms looked with his sleeves rolled up. It’s good that light blue is his favourite colour, because it looks incredible on him.  
“I got you a coffee and I was talking to Alex again. She’s been here for a week already so she knows the employees, I got some of their names.” he said handing Rafael his drink. He tried not to think about the way their fingers brushed together.  
“See anyone interesting?”  
“Not really. At least not in terms of the case. Clayton and Aaron run the kitchen so I saw them down there, Clayton looks kind of…” Nick paused. “Strange, I guess, but not in a threatening way.”  
“What kind of way would that be?”  
“Like the kind of person who would collect insects for fun and wants to tell you all about it.”  
“And Aaron?”  
“Well, he started hitting on me, but he’s too short to fit Shayna’s description.” Barba smirked.  
“Anyone else?”  
“Jamie and Olive, brother and sister. They run some of the group sessions, sometimes with a woman named Robin, but I didn’t see her there. These two are going to be just fantastic to be around. Even better, they’re the Sheffield kids. I texted Olivia and told her the employees names and asked her to do a background check on Jeremy.” Amaro replied. “And we need to be down there by 5 minutes from now for some group therapy relationship building shit, Jamie told me.” Barba sighed and nodded. He grabbed a pink button down shirt and a black sweater to put over his t-shirt. After he was dressed they walked down to the room together holding hands.  
The room was set up with tables and chairs with Eli and Kimberly sitting as far away from each other as possible at one table, and Riley and Aya at another. Barba sat down across from Riley and Amaro next to him. There was a stack of paper and some pens and pencils on the tables.  
They played a LOT of cutesy romantic music through the whole building. Other than in their rooms, you could hear it everywhere. Barba put his head in his hands and groaned loudly. Nothing made him less interested in romance than constant romantic music.  
“What’s wrong?” Riley asked.  
“This music is going to kill me.” Barba answered and Riley laughed.  
“Love songs not your thing?”  
“They can be perfectly fine but these are just over the top.”  
“Yeah, I’m not really a fan either. I’m into classical music the most, Aya and I are in a string quartet together.” she said taking Aya’s hand. “I play viola, she plays cello.”  
“I bet you’re both very talented.” Rafael replied with a grin and Aya smiled back. Just then a man and woman in their 30s walked into the room.  
“Oh great.” Amaro muttered. “That’s Olive and Jamie.” They were the same height and both had blonde hair, just like their mother, and both had huge fake looking smiles plastered on their faces.  
“Hello everyone! For the few of you who haven’t met us I’m Olive and this is my brother Jamie.”  
“Hey guys!” Barba winced and exchanged a look with Amaro. “We have two activities scheduled for today. Our lovely friend Robin will be running the other one as soon as we’re done here.”  
“For this exercise you will be writing each other name poems and exchanging them. You don’t have to share these with everyone, they can remain just between you.” Olive began to explain. “What you need to do is take a pen or pencil and a piece of paper from your table. Then write your partner’s first and last name and for each letter of their name write a word that starts with that letter to describe them. It can be a kind of love letter!” Barba tried not to roll his eyes and he looked at the blank paper.  
“Hey, Barba.” Nick said quietly.  
“What?”  
“Did I spell your name right?”  
“You seriously have to ask?” Amaro shrugged and Barba glared at him. He looked at Nick’s paper. “Yeah, that’s right.” Amaro smiled and wrote ‘Remarkable’ for the first letter. Barba laughed and turned to his paper. It was harder to write than he thought I would be, he wanted it to be somewhat romantic sounding in case Olive or Jamie looked at it. At least complimentary if not romantic.  
It took him around 15 minutes to write it and the others had already finished. They were exchanging their writing and hugging and getting emotional. Or in Eli and Kimberly’s case, fighting again. Barba sighed and handed his to Amaro.  
“Okay take this.” Amaro handed him his as well. They read through each other’s poems and tried not to burst out laughing.

Remarkable Attractive Flashy Accomplished Expensive Lavish Bossy Affectionate Royal Beautiful Adorable

Noteworthy Intrepid Charming Kindhearted Anchored Majestic Admirable Reliable Outgoing

  
“Bossy and expensive? Thank you for the thinly veiled insults, Nick.”  
“At least I made mine accurate.”  
“So you think I’m adorable, affectionate, and beautiful now? That’s so sweet.” Barba replied sarcastically and kissed Amaro on the cheek. He flushed slightly but Barba didn’t notice. “And who says mine isn’t accurate? You went for fake attraction, I made mine close to how I actually see you.”  
”Majestic?”  
“I said close not exact.”  
“I’m just surprised you have any positive feelings towards me.”  
“Why wouldn’t I?”  
“You never seemed to like me much.”  
“You don’t seem to like me either.” Amaro smiled and Barba almost forgot what he was going to say next. “I-I did find you kind of abrasive at first but you’re a good person. I still find you difficult to be around sometimes, but overall I think you’re fine.”  
“Well thank you. I think you’re fine too.” Olive had leaned over Amaro’s shoulder and looked and what Barba wrote for him.  
“This is so sweet! I hope you really appreciate your boyfriend, Nick. He definitely loves you very much.” Jamie walked over and put his arm around Barba, who jumped slightly. He and Amaro were looking at each other with wide eyes due to the siblings holding onto them.  
“His doesn’t seem to be as meaningful. It’s more complimentary to Rafael’s appearance rather than his personality. And bossy is not a good adjective to use, Nick! You should be grateful, he cares about you a lot.”  
“Yeah Nick, you SHOULD be nicer to me.” Barba said while he and Amaro tried not to laugh.  
“You two need to communicate your feelings more often and more directly.” Jamie told them.  
“Yes, we should. Thank you for the advice, Jamie.” Nick said trying to make them go away. Jamie patted Rafael hard on the back as he walked away and he jumped again.  
“Alright everyone! Now that we’re finished with the poems my wonderful friend, Robin Pajak, will be running our next group session. First, we need you all to take your chairs and arrange them in a circle on the other side of the room. Robin is new here so I’ll be watching the session from here. Get started Robin!” Olive said with practiced excitement.  
“Hello everyone! So, what we’ve been doing to help reignite your past feelings is having you tell the story of your first kiss and reenact it.” Robin began nervously and looked at Barba and Amaro. “Why don’t we start with you two since you are the newest here, what’s your story?”  
“Well uh, it was only a little while after we met and we knew we liked each other so I asked him out and we kissed.” Amaro replied.  
“We want the whole story though!” Robin said and he and Barba looked at each other awkwardly.  
“We met through my work, I’m a lawyer and he was a witness on a case I was working. I had some issues getting ahold of him to get his story. He was very difficult at first but I found him very attractive.” Rafael began.  
“I knew he didn’t really like me but I also knew he thought I was hot so I started flirting with him a bit.”  
“We were around each other for like 2 weeks and as soon as the case was over I wanted to ask him out but I didn’t want to say anything. I was walking to my car and Nick had parked near me so I saw him there and he walked over.”  
“I told him how I thought he was very good at his job and congratulated him on winning the case. I said he was very cute as well, I touched his cheek, and he blushed.” Amaro took his hand and Barba blushed for real. “I told him we should go on a date sometime so he smiled and kissed me and said yes.”  
“How long ago was this?” Robin asked.  
“I think almost 7 months ago?” Nick said sounding unsure and Barba nodded.  
“Well, I really hope our counseling helps you because you two make a very cute couple!” they smiled and thanked Robin. “Now for the reenactment.”  
“Do we really have to do that?” Barba asked, uncomfortable.  
“What, do you not want to kiss your boyfriend?” Olive answered.  
“Do you want to kiss someone in front of several people staring at you?” Amaro snapped at her and she scowled.  
“Most of the others have done it, it’s just part of the session.” Robin replied sympathetically.  
They looked at each other for a moment then stood up. Amaro had been hoping to avoid this exact situation but if it had to happen he might as well get it over with. He cupped Barba's cheek and he leaned into the touch. Barba stood on his toes and pressed their lips together. Amaro slid his other hand into Barba’s hair and Barba wrapped his arms around Amaro's waist. Their lips moved together and Amaro was surprised with how comfortable he was finding this. It only lasted 7 seconds but it felt much longer. It felt real. When Barba went back down to his actual height Amaro instinctively followed him with their lips still together. He realized what he was doing however and quickly stood back up straight. They had both turned red and sat back down, avoiding eye contact with each other and everyone else in the room.  
Amaro ended up completely tuning out the next story. He wanted to think about how good it felt when he kissed Barba but he wouldn't let himself. Instead he tried to focus on the case. As much as he wanted Jeremy to be their guy, he couldn’t be unless he managed to get out of the center without anyone noticing. He would be making sure to keep a close eye on him after this case though.  
What he really needed was a list of all the employees to see if any he hadn't met yet fit the description. Garret Sheffield was well over 6 feet tall and didn't pay attention to the couples as long as they paid for their stay. Jamie was around 5'10, Clayton was 6'0, and Aaron was 5'6. Of course, the height of the attacker wasn't necessarily accurate but it was all they really had to go on.  
He hadn't ruled out Jamie as a suspect. The whole 'everything is wonderful' attitude his entire family has is very off putting. Robin seemed nice enough, and he wondered if he could get the other employees names from her. As soon as the session was over Nick went to talk to Robin.  
“Hey Robin, could I talk to you for a second?”  
“Sure! Your name was Nick right? It was very nice to meet you.”  
“You too, you’re a lot more pleasant to be around than most of the other employees.” Amaro told her and she grinned. “I was wondering if you could tell me who else works here. I’d like to have an idea who else I’ll be meeting during the next few days.”  
“Oh, yeah I can do that. You already met Olive and Jamie Sheffield then. I do the group sessions when they aren’t available but they’ve been training me so they’re still here. Margot Lorenz does individual therapy for people who have problems with talking in group sessions. She talks a lot with Aya and Michelle. She’s very sweet and caring and easy to talk to, I can’t imagine anyone else doing her job that well.” Robin gushed for a moment. “And um, Carlotta Ocampo and Eric Thomas do a lot of the maintenance work. I know Eric sets up the rooms most of the time. They’re best friends, according to Olive, she’s the one who introduced me to most of the other employees. They’re the main maintenance workers but there are a few who work part time. I haven’t met them all but I know of Rob, Emmett, and Lauren. The ones I’ve met seem pretty nice. Aaron Delaney and Clayton Spears work the kitchen. If anyone else does I haven’t seen them. I don’t know Aaron very well, but I’ve known Clayton since I was a kid and he’s one of my best friends. I’m sure you’ll like them all though!”  
“Probably, but you’re definitely my favourite so far.” Nick said with a smile as Barba walked over.  
“Hey, what’s going on?” he asked.  
“I was asking Robin about the other employees. They all sound pretty great so we won’t have to worry.”  
“Oh, that’s good, I can’t wait to meet the others.”  
“I was glad to see you two reconnecting today, I think after these two weeks are up you’ll be together for a very long time. You’re a wonderful couple.”  
“Thank you very much! I really want this to work out and coming here was definitely a good idea.” Barba replied.  
“Oh, it looks like Olive needs me.” Robin said, seeing her wave her over from across the room. “I’ll see you guys around!”  
“Get anything interesting from her?” Barba asked as Robin walked away.  
“Maybe, I got a few names and her character assessments of them. I’ll call Olivia and tell her who we have here and see if she gets anything.”  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Amaro called Benson right away. She said she would look and see if any of the employees have a criminal record. She ended up calling back a few hours later.  
"Hey Olivia, did you get anything?"  
"Not yet, but that's not why I'm calling. We found another victim."  
"What? Someone from here?"  
"Yes, her name is Riley McKinnon, have you met her?"  
“Shit, yeah we met her. I didn’t know she was going out tonight. How is she doing? Did she say anything about what happened?”  
“She got hurt pretty badly and she’s unconscious right now. He hit her head hard and it looks like she put up a fight. The doctors say she’ll be fine if she wakes up soon. We’ll try to get her story as soon as possible.”  
“Is Aya with her?”  
“Her wife? Yes, she’s here and terrified. We tried getting something out of her but she’s been panicking since they got here and hasn’t said anything to anyone but the doctors.”  
“She doesn’t really talk to anyone, just try and make her comfortable. You can tell her Barba and I are doing our best looking for whoever did this.”  
Olivia assured him that she would make sure Riley and Aya ended up okay and would call back as soon as Riley woke up. Amaro was furious and determined to put whatever piece of shit was doing this away for life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ***the poems wouldn't post in here in the same format i had them in word so they look weird in this


End file.
